Create Beautiful DesignsModule 5 Science Review and Discussion - Body Systems & Microworlds
This assignment will be completed in a special clas.Read but do not complete here Microworlds & Body Systems Exploration & Sharing Class Overview: The purpose of our online class this week is to explore microscopic life, body systems, and health education. We are going to start by looking at the amazing diversity of microscopic life and the tools educators can use to introduce this transformative topic for children who are often not aware of the existence of life beyond their vision. There are many important lessons and activities that can be created with magnifying lenses and microscopes. We will also be looking at microscopic organisms such as bacteria and viruses which can have a significant effect on human health. In addition to our exploration of microworlds, you will be completing a body systems curriculum search within science and health standards for Utah and one other state of your choice. You will be sharing the results of your body and health research for our class participation and interaction elements for this week which is described in Section 2. I will be participating in the online discussion this week as well which is summarized in the video below. Class Objectives:
Key Terms: By the end of this class you should be able to define, discuss and apply the following key terms within your educational practice: microscopic life, cells, bacteria, antibiotics, viruses, vaccines, microscopes, body systems, circulatory system, respiratory system, nervous system, body senses, nervous system, endocrine system, skeletal system, muscular system, health education, health plan, health awareness Section 1: Microscopic Life The Art & Beauty of Microworlds As educators we teach children about the world they see and can experience around them. However, another world exists beyond our sense of sight. It is a microscope world filled with as much drama and beauty as the one immediately visible to the world we see. Consider what questions might emerge from your students if they watched this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHwU7Oe1vj0 (Links to an external site.) How would you explore the questions your students might ask about our microscopic worlds? Both STEM and STEAM offer important ways s in which your students can investigate and better understand the diversity of life and their function in nature and body systems. In this section we will explore the are going to explore the most important tools teachers can use to explore the microscopic world: magnifying glasses and simple microscopes with elementary students. Tools for Investigating Microworlds With Children Magnifying glasses like the ones above are useful tools for introducing the microword. In using magnifying lenses, you are beginning to transform your students' understanding of the visible and non-visible. Magnifying glasses act as scaffold for seeing tiny details and elements up close of common objects such as toys and artifacts from living organisms such as feathers, leaves, scales, and shells. Student dissecting scopes (also called stereomicroscopes) introduce the same form and structure as microscopes that allow students to begin using controls on the instrument to see increasingly intricate structures of living and non-living things (these tools are educationally useful beyond their title as dissecting scopes). Both of these educational tools should be considered within a school's STEM resource collection for elementary teachers as experimented with as a precursor to using student microscopes in the classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDIncvfIjw0 (Links to an external site.) Consider how the elementary student above uses her microscope. How would you introduce and use microscopes in your classroom? Before starting to use them in your classroom, I recommend borrowing one (if available) or checking one out from your school or university. While it is nice to have a sample slide collection, as evidenced in the video above, it is not necessary at this level. Our goal with these tools is to give children the experiences they need to see their world in new ways and discover that there is another whole new microcosmos beyond their vision. Here is a video on the history and basic form most microscopes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzjowD1KN20 (Links to an external site.) As a former elementary and STEM educator, one of the most transformative experiences for my students revolved around seeing living things in seemingly clear water. This was particularly important in areas with water born illnesses from bacterial or other microscopic contamination. My students were happy to drink clear water from ponds and streams until they saw that there was microscopic life in the water that, while interesting and diverse, might also make them sick. After showing them living organisms in clear pond water, I would then filter, chemically treat or boil the water to show how the water was safer to drink now that microorganisms were not swimming around. This was particularly important when I was teaching in Chiapas, Mexico where there was a lot of typhoid and other gastrointestinal parasites. We will discuss bacteria in more detail below. Multimedia Resources on the Diversity of Microscopic Life By mass, there is more microscopic life on Earth than any other form of life. The diversity of microscopic life as evidenced in the sample from a pond (one of the most common microscopic activities for children) generates a lot of interest and curiosity by children. That vast majority of microscopic life is harmless to humans. Many forms of microscopic life are beneficial to us as many single celled and other microscopic organisms generate oxygen through photosynthesis or are a major source of food for many animals. One of the best sites to observe and learn about the diversity of microscopic life for teachers with no access to microscopes is a YouTube Channel called Journey to the Microcosmos which is linked below. While generally geared towards the upper grades and adults, you can turn the audio off (humans cannot hear microscopic life) and project/discuss the lifeforms you see. Click on the link below and explore some of the videos by Journey to the Microcosmos. YouTube Channel Journey to the Microcosmos (Links to an external site.) Perhaps the most significant group of microscopic life forms that do impact our lives on a daily basis are bacteria. Viruses, much smaller than bacteria, also significantly affect our lives. Both bacteria and viruses are explored in the following sections. Introducing and Understanding Bacteria and VirusesOnce your students become aware of microscopic life, they may be surprised to learn that we have billions of bacteria living on our skin and inside the human body (mostly in the digestive system). Most of these bacteria are harmless to our health and some, in fact, are essential to our overall health. We use bacteria in our gut to aid in the digestion of food. However there are harmful strains of bacteria as well. These more dangerous bacteria can cause food born illnesses and infections described in the following section. In addition to bacteria, viruses play a significant role in our lives. Viruses exist between life and non-life as they cannot reproduce without a host. Most viruses are simple protein shells/casings that contain genetic material and, as infectious germs, are discussed in more detail later on. Bacteria and Antibiotics Staph bacteria cause many common infections. Once children learn about the existence and diversity of microscopic life, they should begin to learn about bacteria because most food born illnesses such as food poisoning are caused by bacteria in contaminated or rotten food. When children fall or cut their skin, bacteria may also cause infections. A good introduction to bacteria and infections is a video series from the United Kingdom called Operation Ouch which can be shared with families as well. One patient is a little boy who falls and has a common bacterial infection at the 6:35 mark of this video. The video also does a nice job of discussing how antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and why it is important to wash your hands and clean wounds to the skin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJy3T1McpM&list=TLPQMDMxMTIwMjCXpmxoprb3yw&index=4 (Links to an external site.) Viruses and Vaccines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X31g5TB-MRo (Links to an external site.) As noted earlier, viruses don't quite qualify as living organisms like bacteria because they can't reproduce without a host (plant, animal, or human). Scientists think that viruses were important in the emergence of life on Earth and may exist in other parts of our solar system (Mars, Venus, Titan) though this has not been confirmed. Unlike Bacteria which consume other microscopic life including cells during infections, viruses primary function is to invade a cell and use the cell's DNA to make copies of itself. The cell then bursts and the new viruses invade other cells. A problem occurs when viruses make the host sick. In humans viruses cause many illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious ones such as the measles, polio, Ebola or even a pandemic such as Covid-19 we are currently in. The most serious pandemic in the United States occurred in 1918 as exemplified in this article about how the pandemic affected Utah (click the photo or link to read). There is an interesting section on what school teachers did during the 1918 pandemic. Case Study of the 1918 Pandemic in Utah (Links to an external site.) Just as antibiotics are important with bacterial infections, vaccines are important in the prevention of viral illnesses and outbreaks such as measles and polio. Remember that viruses are a genetic illness where cells' DNA are taken over by invading viruses in order to make copies. In the 1918 pandemic above, doctors did not know the cause of the pandemic was a virus until the 1930s. While antibiotics focus on killing bacteria, they are not useful against genetic-based germs like viruses. As a result medical researchers began developing vaccines which include a killed/weakened form of the target virus such as polio and measles that sparks a person's immune system to start creating antibodies for these formerly serious diseases in the United States (see the timeline and history of polio eradication in the United States below). Timeline of the Polio Vaccine and Eradication Program in the United StatesLinks to an external site.Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.) In addition to the use of vaccines to prevent serious illnesses such as polio, vaccines have been developed to treat cancers and other genetic diseases and defects. Annual vaccines for influenza are also available to the public as well and scientists are currently in the process of developing a vaccine for Covid-19. Reflection QuestionsAfter reading the above section, consider the following questions:
Section 2: Curriculum Exploration of Body Systems & Health Education in Elementary STEM An important aspect of this course for K-8 educators is a basic review of STEM. In our final online activity we are going to review body systems and health education which can be found in both the health and science sections of most state curriculum standards. In this section you will be completing a curriculum research and search activity and sharing the results of your findings to the rest of our class. Key Terms in Science: By the end of this science research you should be able to identify what aspects of cells, body systems and health education you will be responsible for teaching at your practicum or preferred grade level: cells, body systems: circulatory, digestive, muscular, nervous, reproductive (grades 5 & 6 in many states), senses & physical and mental health mindfulness.
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